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AR/XA Super Slow 45 rpm

Distances

Distances

New Member
Hi Everyone,

I'm pretty new to the whole vintage hifi hobby andI just recently bought an Acoustic Research XA turntable. When I put the belt on the 45rpm spindle (which is the bottom one, right?) it's incredibly slow, slower than the 33. The 33 speed sounds fine. I just lubricated the motor shaft and it spins nicely. Really don't know what to do, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
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the belt has to be slipping severely for it to run slower on 45. Or, there is some slip in the pulley to shaft interface, Or both. If the pulley slips on/off easily, it needs snugged up a bit. Clean it, and a dab of nail polish.
 
marcmorin said:
the belt has to be slipping severely for it to run slower on 45. Or, there is some slip in the pulley to shaft interface, Or both. If the pulley slips on/off easily, it needs snugged up a bit. Clean it, and a dab of nail polish.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tip. I will give this a try.
 
marcmorin said:
the belt has to be slipping severely for it to run slower on 45. Or, there is some slip in the pulley to shaft interface, Or both. If the pulley slips on/off easily, it needs snugged up a bit. Clean it, and a dab of nail polish.
Click to expand...
So the pulley assembly wasn't super easy to take off, it required some force but not a lot. I noticed there was oil on the shaft, cleaned, put a dab of nail polish on there (egg plant purple), waited to dry, and it virtually seems unchanged. I can't wrap my head around the fact that 45 is slower than 33 and wouldn't a change to one speed affect the other?
 
Lemme do this one! I'm desperate to say something smart. I got this...

Marc told you two things, or both, could be wrong. You fixed one. The other one is a stretched belt. So a stretched belt on the smaller pulley won't spin the platter as fast 'cause it's slipping too much. It's tight enough on the larger 33.
Yeah.
 
You could try taking the belt off, put it in a baggie with some talcum or baby powder and shaking it to cover the belt. Then replace it and see if it helps get a little traction on the 45 pulley. If so, then that pretty much points to you need a new belt.
 
Todd Dodds said:
You could try taking the belt off, put it in a baggie with some talcum or baby powder and shaking it to cover the belt. Then replace it and see if it helps get a little traction on the 45 pulley. If so, then that pretty much points to you need a new belt.
Click to expand...
There isn't an issue with the belt, it's in pretty decent shape. The TT also came with an extra belt and I threw that on to make sure it wasn't the belt. Still the 33 sounds good, 45 still slow. I even tried to run it with the main platter off, to alleviate the weight, nope.
 
Also, it's running 33 speed on the smaller pulley. The big pulley is 33 and smaller pulley is 45? I'm so confused.

Edit: It works now!! Thank you Marc and Todd!
 
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Distances said:
Also, it's running 33 speed on the smaller pulley. The big pulley is 33 and smaller pulley is 45? I'm so confused.

Edit: It works now!! Thank you Marc and Todd!
Click to expand...

The funny part is here was my big chance to say something smart, and I got it backward...or upside down, or something ;)

Glad it's working, you're going to enjoy it.
 
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